Whatever It Takes ↠ Newt [The Scorch Trials] ¹

TEN

CHAPTER TEN
Fire

THE GROUP OF teens sat around a fire after taking shelter by a wrecked ship filled with metal crates. Mae lay down on her pack with her knees up as she stared at the black sky above her, finding solace and peace in the plainness it provided. Though, everything had changed around her, at least the sky was still the same– from her perspective, anyway.

Mae breathed softly, thinking about all those nights she had spent around a fire, lying on the grass with her friends, smiling, joking and laughing. But things had changed. The girl was no longer lying on the soft comfort of grass, but the hardness of the Scorch. She was no longer sitting around the fire with her closest friends, but people she hardly knew. There was no sign of a smile, let alone a laugh, but scowls and frowns.

The sound of Frypan sniffing seemed to be the only sound emitting from the group, the other noises came from the wind and fire. The tension in the air was palpable and Mae wanted to get away from it. She then turned to the fire to see it dying down and she used it to her advantage to get away for a while– even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

"I'm gonna find some more wood." Mae announced as she lifted herself off the ground while dusting off her cargo pants. She laughed bitterly. "Or anything we can use to burn. Can't be too hard since everything is fucking dry."

Newt and Thomas looked at Mae after her comment to see her face filled with exhaustion, frustration and anger. The brunet pressed his lips into a straight line, after they had found Rachel and Frankie, Mae hadn't reacted much or brought up the subject and he wanted to know if she was okay.

"I'll help." Aris offered as he got up from his position.

The two Group B members walked through the gap in the ship. Mae squinted her eyes in attempt to get a better look, she and Aris walked through to the other side. The girl immediately bent down to see a few planks of wood that had obviously assembled the ship. She scooped them up into her arms and held them tightly to her chest.

Aris managed to notice the look of distress on Mae's face through the darkness. He also noticed the bags under her eyes had gotten worse and her skin seemed to be drier than when he had noticed earlier in the day. "Somethin' bothering you?"

Mae looked at the boy, her face unreadable. "No, why would you ask that?"

"You look like you're having some kind of battle with yourself."

Mae sighed. "What are we doing, Aris? Where are going?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean what am I talking about? Are you stupid?" The brunette asked in disbelief, squinting her eyes as she threw the planks of wood to the ground in anger. "Look around you, Aris! Where the hell are we? What the hell are we doing? Runnin' around a sandpit like a bunch of blooming toddlers trying to build a castle?"

"Mae," Aris said gently, taking a step towards the girl. "What's wrong?"

Mae took a deep breath in and shook her head. "Nothing. I just– I'm tired and today just brought up a lot of things I've been trying to forget. I just– I don't know where we're going or what we're doing, Aris." Her voice softened. "What are we doing?"